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“A Contrast In Nature”

"Tintern Abbey" by Wordsworth and "Ode to the West Wind" by Shelley are two highly contrasting poems in reference to nature and nature's personification. Both poets, in this case, do personify nature and develop a deep relationship with its actions and the joy that it provides the speaker. Wordsworth provides many examples of metaphorical expression and compares nature to humanly living images in more than one example in the poem. Shelley however, takes his poem in a more distinct direction and personifies one aspect of nature which is most obviously The West Wind. 

Now for our contrasts:

Wordsworth is a very general writer in this example and his expressions and relationship with different images of nature that he remembers are personal connections. In the poem, it appears that Wordsworth is far away from any beautiful natural wonder that he can rest his eyes on so he repeats his thanks to nature's memories and the pleasant reminders of beautiful moments gone by that he has experienced. 

"But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din

Of towns and cities, I have owed to them

In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,

Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;

And passing even into my purer mind," (Wordsworth, 26-30). 

The conjured memories of nature play about in Wordsworth's mind and he plays with them in mental comparisons as if the sheer mental activity provides him some thankful joy. He makes the claim that the memories make his mind purer and that the beautiful memories are pumped by the heart and throughout his body. He is completely and wholly feeling the joy here in this excerpt. 

As stated before, Wordsworth is a speaker of many forms of nature in this poem, in one stanza he makes note of coming "among these hills;" and "bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides of deep rivers, and the lonely streams," (69-71). So there are various pictures here that he is interacting with. (Comparison note: This action doesn't directly oppose, but it does contrast Shelley in that he interacts with his thoughts while Shelley is more or less speaking to the Western Wind.) He does so and words his language in such a manner as to place himself in these images as he mentally interacts in his thoughts.

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Shelley is a bit different in "Ode to the West Wind". His words regard only one aspect of nature; the western wind. However, the interesting facet of Shelley's work here is that he personifies the wind in such an extreme manner that he makes its actions come alive and at one point even refers to the wind as a "Wild Spirit" (Shelley, 13). (Comparison note: This form of a more spiritual personification was not a point that Wordsworth attempted to make in his poem.)

Shelley describes different parts of nature, as Wordsworth did, but differently in the sense that he portrayed how they were affected by the Western Wind (his primary focus in the poem). He even places himself in comparison and wishes that he were as uncontrollable as the wind. He refers to it as carefree as his own boyhood.

"The impulse of thy strength, only less free

Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even 

I were as in my boyhood, and could be" (46-48).

The strength of the wind in this example is something Shelley quite descriptively terms as "impulsive" in a way. It is carefree in its decision and direction and goes only where it pleases. It is rebellious and uncontrollable as Shelley clearly identifies as two characteristics of himself in his own boyhood. The wind reminds Shelley of himself very much in this portion of the text. 

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In using aspects of his own life, Shelley makes a connection between himself and the wind. This is a form of comparison that Wordsworth did not openly use. Additionally, we find differences in style that may cause a reader to find Shelley's work more appealing to the eye than Wordsworth's. 

For example, in order to arrange his different thoughts, Shelley divides his stanzas into large groups but collects the lines within the stanzas into groups of 3. Lines in these groups tend to rhyme with one another which completes the favorable flow a reader receives as each new thought is introduced. 

Wordsworth's work is collected. His thoughts are unified into large stanzas and his lines do not end in rhyming words, which is a form of free verse poetry. It greets the eye with an almost prose-like feel but its wording reaches into the heart of the reader; causing them to recall their own pleasing thoughts.

I hope my contrasts made sense here and I am open to any questions or discussion concerning these works!

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